Hurst escaped the incident unfazed. The only trouble he encountered the rest of the game was in the fifth inning, when he allowed back-to-back homers to Steve Decker and Mike Benjamin. It was the first time in two years the Giants managed the feat, and it was accomplished by their only rookies in the lineup, their Nos. 7 and 8 hitters.

They were the final hits surrendered by Hurst the rest of the game. He retired the next nine hitters without allowing the ball to be hit out of the infield before leaving after seven inning.

Home runs accounted for all of the runs in the game.

Giant starter Bud Black--making his first appearance at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium since he pitched for San Diego State against UCLA in 1979--watched an old American League foe ruin his debut in the first inning when McGriff hit a two-run homer in the right-field seats.

It would be one of only four hits surrendered by Black, who equalled his career-high by striking out 10 batters.

One of the other Padre hits was a homer into the left-field seats by Jearld Clark, scoring Santiago from second for a 4-1 lead.

That brought up Matt Williams, the National League RBI champ, who had been hitless in his first seven at-bats of the season. Williams hit a deep fly into right field, where Tony Gwynn caught it on the warning track.

The Padres are off to their best start since 1984 when they opened the year with four consecutive victories.